


This is a beautiful start to lifelong love letter

by deansehun



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Aaron is a rat but we all knew that, But like only a few words so you guys should be fine, Engagement, F/F, Fluff, Little Cursing, M/M, Multi, Same-Sex Marriage, Wedding Fluff, Wedding Night, Wedding Planning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 15:01:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11359845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deansehun/pseuds/deansehun
Summary: Nicky and Erik get to fulfill their biggest dream; getting married. Legalization of same-sex marriage in Germany and the reaction it has on the couple gets Neil and Andrew thinking.





	This is a beautiful start to lifelong love letter

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I finally got the inspiration an courage to write this, yaay! I've been playing around with the idea for a while and a couple of nights ago my writers block disappeared and I wrote this.
> 
> I wish to dedicate this fic to all the lovely Germans (especially Mari, Kim, Iris, Nia, Kat, Verena, Alex, Alexa, Beyza and anyone else I possibly forgot - sorry!) who from this day forward can get married. I'm so very happy for you honestly! We still have a long way to go as a community, but this was a big step and once again I'm so happy for you.
> 
> Also I hope y'all enjoy this fic!

When you first meet Nicky Hemmick you wouldn’t think that this boy does a lot of thinking. In fact, you might think something completely different. Sometimes even the people who know Nicky best might be surprised when they find him alone somewhere going through all of his thoughts; but he does in fact do that a lot. Erik even says that he thinks too much sometimes and needs to find a good balance between thinking too little and thinking too much.

Nicky found himself more and more often looking back on his life these days. He always thought that was a thing only older people did, but he was often proving himself wrong. Memories of his days with the foxes struck him while sitting in his car during long traffic hours. Recollections of his childhood resurfaced themselves while having dinner with Erik’s parents one sunday, and he found himself thinking about his relationship with Erik at Renee’s and Allison’s wedding.

Nicky saw Erik standing by the buffet while talking with Andrew and Neil. He adores how well Erik and Andrew get along. Andrew and Erik had found mutual respect for each other surprisingly quick. Nicky’s best guess was it had something to do with the fact that without both of them, he likely wouldn’t be alive.   
Their relationship warms his heart; especially considering Erik and Aaron can’t get along at all but Erik would do anything for Andrew. For example, Erik learning english. Of course his international job made it clear he had to be able to speak and understand english, but he wanted to communicate with Andrew and rest of the foxes better so he had begun taking lessons from Matt via Skype every other wednesday. 

Nicky didn’t even realize he was up on his feet until he was already standing next to Erik.

“Marry me”, Nicky interrupted. Erik smiled calmly like Nicky had just asked him something mundane, like to pass the milk.. Erik shifted a little on his feet so that he was facing Nicky a little more and chuckled. His right hand was in his pocket and in the other one he was holding a glass of white wine. Nicky grabbed the wrist of that hand without even noticing. Andrew and Neil stood still with eyebrows raised so high it was a miracle they didn’t hit the ceiling.

“You’re asking me to break the law now?” Erik joked. It was an unfortunate fact that gay marriage was still illegal in Germany but Nicky didn’t quite care about that right now.

“Yeah, no.. I know but when it is legal”, Nicky corrected himself.

“I thought we silently agreed on that years ago”, Erik replied. He was still smiling calmly but Nicky could tell he was now more serious than before. 

“We did?” Nicky smiled, which was just fuel to Erik’s fiery smile.

“Well, yeah”, Erik shrugged “I thought that was the deal with the whole soulmate thing”, he quickly glanced at his wine glass before making eye contact with Nicky again.

“I love you so much”, Nicky mumbled as he put his free hand on the back of Erik’s neck and pulled him into a kiss.

“Gross”, Andrew commented. Nicky couldn’t see it, but he could hear Neil slapping Andrew on the arm.

“Shut up, I’m watching this”, Neil said staring at Nicky and Erik like they were a reality tv show. Only thing missing at this point was popcorn and a narrator explaining how happy and in love those two truly were- as if it wasn’t obvious enough.

“Ok junkie, time to go”, Andrew took Neil’s hand and dragged him away, leaving Nicky and Erik kissing and smiling like a couple of high school kids in love.

\---

A year later Nicky was in America for work, and as per usual he was staying over at the Minyard-Josten household. He’d been there for a week now and today was his last day. He always booked his flight back to Germany one day after his meetings finished because he wanted to spend one more day with Andrew and Neil, and in the USA in general. He loved Germany, but he did miss his homeland from time to time. Not to mention, he barely ever got to see Andrew and Neil anymore and they didn’t seem to mind him hanging around for an extra day.

It was eight in the morning and Nicky had taken over the couch. He is quite tall (especially in comparison to the tiny residents of the home) so when he straightened his legs there was no more room for anyone else on the tiny couch, but Andrew and Neil didn’t seem to mind sitting on the floor. Andrew was leaning against the couch eating his ridiculously sugary cereal and Neil was splayed between his legs surfing through the tv channels.

“Can they play something other than cartoons and the news at 8am?” Neil complained. He didn’t get a reply; but he also wasn’t expecting one, he was just thinking out loud. 

Nicky’s phone started buzzing aggressively soon after Neil had decided on some channel that was playing some terrible, new version of an old classic cartoon.

“Oh my god,” Nicky gasped so loud half of his sentence got lost somewhere in the gasp. He abruptly sat up on the couch, staring at his buzzing phone.  
“Oh my god,” he repeated, but louder and clearer than before. It captured Andrew’s attention in a heartbeat.   
“Everything okay?” he asked after quickly swallowing the sugarbomb cereal he loved so much.  
“Oh my-” Nicky started.  
“-God. Yeah, we know,” Andrew interrupted while putting his bowl of cereal down on the floor next to him. Neil turned the volume down on the tv and turned to face Nicky.  
“Nicky?” Neil asked while the poor man was just staring at his phone in shocked disbelief. Neither of them could garner from his expression if he was happy, sad or something else completely.

“They-” Nicky started but couldn’t continue. He was rereading something on his phone ,and a single tear rolled down his cheek. Neil thought he could actually hear Andrew’s heart beating out of his chest even though his face didn’t flinch.

“They did it,” Nicky whispered incoherently. “I’m getting married.”

“You’re doing what?” Neil had to ask because the end of Nicky’s sentence was lost somewhere in the air again. Nicky burst into tears, and both Andrew and Neil were up on their feet in a heartbeat.

“I’m getting married,” Nicky finally managed to say something they understood. He was sobbing but he was also so loud it was hard not to hear what he said.

“The snap vote in Germany, it voted in favor of same sex marriage and adoption,” Nicky exclaimed through his sobs and waved his phone at Andrew and Neil. Neither of them could read any of Erik’s typo filled texts because Nicky’s hands were shaking so much.

“I’m so happy.” Nicky mumbled as he dropped his phone into his lap and hid his face in his hands. He was still shaking and crying, but now a smile was dawning on his face. 

Andrew needed a few seconds to breathe; a billion bad scenarios had played in his head before Nicky explained what was going on. But it only took him a second or two to dismiss those negative thoughts and understand Nicky was actually crying out of joy.

Andrew sat down at the edge of the couch next to his emotional cousin and took his shaking hands with his.

“I’m really happy for you,” he said quietly. It wasn’t often Andrew said nice things, but it was happening more often these days. Nicky didn’t know if it was due to Aaron distancing himself from the both of them, or Andrew was making progress healing, or both. Nicky was just really glad to see Andrew doing better - and he wasn’t the only one.

Neil knelt on the floor next to Nicky. He carefully placed his hand on Nicky’s knee and smiled warmly when Nicky looked at him. It was nice, and also kind of odd to see these two display such positive emotions but Nicky decided not to focus on the odd part. He was not going to be that person who made those two feel weird about showing positive emotions.

“Can I hug you?” Nicky asked after a couple more minutes of sitting on the couch and crying. Andrew didn’t take long to nod. He let Nicky’s hands go so they could hug tightly instead. Nicky sobbed for a while against Andrew’s shoulder before deciding it was time to get his shit together. He let go of his tiny cousin and wiped his wet cheeks with care.

“Oh boy,” he chuckled, feeling slightly awkward because of his emotional reaction. He was so used to people giving him weird looks and sarcastic comments about his big reactions that he wasn’t always sure when it was kind of allowed. But in this situation it seemed to be allowed.

“I’m gonna go, um, call Erik,” Nicky mumbled as he pushed himself up from the floor, taking his phone with him as he went to the next room to make the call.

Neil and Andrew sat in comfortable silence as they let the incredible news sink in. 

“Do you think we’re being dumb?” Neil pondered. Andrew turned to look at his boyfriend with one eyebrow raised in silent question. He wasn’t sure what Neil was talking about.

“You know.. not getting married and stuff,” Neil made his question more clear. Andrew slid from the couch to the floor next to Neil with his eyebrow still slightly raised. Neil’s eyes were locked on the floor.

“I mean, we have the option to decide we don’t need to get married while some people don’t. Don’t you feel like we’re being a little... douchebag-y?” 

Andrew thought about it for a while before replying.

“No,” he said.

“You don’t think we’re ignoring this privilege we have? Like it’s this beautiful thing that some people would do anything for the right to do and we’re over here thinking we’re better than this and-”

“We can get married if you want to,” Andrew interrupted Neil who was spiraling out of the main topic fast. Andrew wasn’t really sure if he completely understood his boyfriend’s point, but if marriage was what Neil wanted, then Andrew is more than willing to get married.

“Well.. What do you want?” Neil asked, his big blue eyes wide in question. Andrew shrugged carelessly. 

“No. Really, Andrew. What do you want?” Neil wasn’t going to take Andrew’s lack of answer and they both knew it.

“I don’t know.”

\---

“Babe, we got the rest of the replies”, Erik yelled over his shoulder towards the living room where his fiancee was. Nicky appeared at his side after a few short seconds to stare at the same pile of letters that Erik was staring. They’d decided to open all the wedding invitation replies after they had received them all so they could keep a clear track of everything.  
“Let’s get to work then”, Nicky said while rubbing his hands together and a grin splashed across his features.

It took them upwards of an hour to go through all the letters, write down names and the answers they had received.   
“So everyone’s coming except for one of your aunts and.. Who else?” Nicky asked after going through their list once more. He could tell two people weren’t coming, but the other person’s name wasn’t on the list. Nicky was staring at Erik’s back for a moment before he turned around and his face gave away who the second person to not attend was.

“It’s Aaron, isn't it,”Nicky didn’t even have to ask, it was too obvious. Erik gave Nicky a sad nod with a disappointed sigh. His disappointment and sadness was nothing compared to Nicky’s. He knew Aaron was distancing himself from them, but he hadn't realized that meant his cousin was willing to miss Nicky’s wedding. Nicky had still attended Aaron’s wedding despite not speaking to each other in months. Nicky had thought he meant more to his cousin; but apparently he had thought wrong.

“Alright then,” Nicky said, writing down Aaron’s name on the ‘Not Attending’ list. Erik was gripping onto his coffee mug like his life depended on it. He was just trying not to get too angry because he knew it would make Nicky more upset and then Nicky would start defending Aaron,and it would spiral into a shit show.

“So everyone but two,” Nicky stated. “Did we already decide on the flowers?”

Erik was a bit thrown off by Nicky’s calm facade but he didn’t question it. Perhaps Nicky just needed some time to register what happened.Right now, the only important thing was to not let Aaron fucking Minyard ruin the day that he’d been waiting for years for.

\---

 

Nicky’s had a lot of times in his life when he thought he couldn’t be any happier than that exact moment, but the day of his wedding exceeded all of those other joys. He got to see all of his friends and family together for a whole full day. He got to introduce Andrew to Erik’s parents and some of his mother's relatives who hadn’t disowned him after he came out. He got to catch up face to face with all the foxes. He got to see Matt, Dan and their adorable children. He got to see Renee and Allison and find out about their big plans to tour Europe next summer. He got to see Wymack, Abby, and Bee as well as Jeremy, Jean, Alvarez, and Laila who had all shown up as well.

But by far the best part of the day was when Nicky finally married his soulmate. For years he had dreamed about this moment, but for so long had thought that marriage was never going to be an option for him and Erik. He had long since accepted this, and had made a promise to himself to always love and cherish Erik no matter what life threw their way.  
Now that all of his dreams had come true he felt like he was in a fairy tale, and Nicky didn’t want it to ever end.

Nicky had been busy socializing and well, getting married, so he hadn’t really had the time to think about Aaron’s absence, let alone talk to Andrew about it. He had decided not to tell Andrew about it before the wedding because he knew how angry Andrew would get - angry as well as sad. It was highly unlikely that Aaron was going to show up to any of Andrew’s important life events if he didn’t even bother showing up to Nicky’s wedding. 

But eventually Andrew and Nicky found a moment alone to talk.

“Look I know I should’ve told you sooner but I didn’t want to-” Nicky started to ramble before Andrew could give him a speech about how he should’ve told him earlier.

“I get it, don’t worry”, Andrew stopped him before he could finish his big, rehearsed rant.

“Upset you- wait,you do?” Nicky rambled. He wasn’t really sure what he had expected to happen next. Nicky knew Andrew hated it when he let Aaron off so easy - everyone did. Nicky couldn’t help it though;somewhere deep inside he couldn’t stop loving Aaron, just like he couldn't stop loving Andrew. Nicky knew, against his better judgement, that he would eventually forgive Aaron for this.

“Yes and I wanted to say I’m sorry on his behalf”, Andrew said. He tried very hard to hide the anger he had for his twin brother right now but Nicky knew it was there, bubbling under the surface of Andrew’s facade.

“Drew, you don’t have to apologize for him. It was his choice and I’m sure he knew and understood what he was doing replying to the invitation this way. He needs to take responsibility for his own actions,” Nicky said and Andrew nodded.

“Yeah, I know but still I’m-” he started but Nicky wouldn’t let him finish.

“No, I don’t wanna hear it nor do I want to think about it right now”, Nicky said as a shining smile danced across his features once more. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but it’s kind of my wedding day, and I refuse to get upset on my wedding day.” 

\---

Later that night Nicky was sitting by the groom’s table that he and Erik had been seated behind for a majority of the night. Some of their guests had left for home a little bit earlier since they had early flights to catch, or work to attend the next day. Most of their german friends and family had stayed later as well as Andrew and Neil. Kevin had flown to Germany with them, but he had also left early because he didn’t want to ruin his well planned sleep schedule - and he wanted away from the alcohol. He had been sober for such a long time, and he didn't want to be tempted to break his sobriety streak.  
Nicky watched Andrew and Neil swaying on the half empty dance floor to the beat of some random slow song. He didn’t move his gaze even when Erik sat down next to him and put a cake plate in front of him.

“One more piece?” Erik queried.

“I never thought I’d say this but I’m too full”, Nicky replied cheekily, and his husband laughed. There was a moment of comfortable silence, and then Erik wrapped his strong arm around Nicky’s shoulders and pulled him closer. 

“This still feels a bit surreal, doesn’t it?” Erik pondered his chin resting atop of Nicky’s head.

“A little bit”, Nicky answered truthfully. Maybe the feeling of reality would sink in slow. Or perhaps it wouldn't at all. Maybe everyday would feel like a fairy tale from now on.

“So.. kids next?” Erik asked playfully. Nicky knew he was joking as they’d had this conversation a couple times before. 

“Nope, you married a single parent”, Nicky replied, his eyes still on Andrew who looked very calm and happy slow dancing with his boyfriend. Erik chuckled a bit and kissed the top of Nicky’s head.  
\---

“I know what we should do”, Andrew said.

“Take a road trip around Europe?” Neil suggested. He didn’t know what Andrew was talking about all of a sudden and kind of automatically assumed he was making a joke of some sort.  
“I’m being serious,” Andrew said.

“About what?” Neil asked. He couldn't read Andrew’s features for answers because Neil’s face was pressed in the crook of his boyfriend’s neck as they swayed back and forth.

“About what we talked about a few months ago,” Andrew explained. It took Neil a minute to understand but when he did he stopped swaying and immediately turned his head so that he could actually see Andrew’s face.

“The marriage thing?” Neil clarified to make sure he was following Andrew’s trail of thought correctly. Andrew simply nodded. Neil didn’t ask again, he just waited for Andrew to say what he had in mind.

“We should do it”, Andrew said without hesitation. Neil didn’t know what he was expecting Andrew’s answer to be, but it sure as hell wasn’t that. He had hoped that perhaps him and Andrew could get married one day, but Andrew’s confirmation still caught him off guard. This amazing man was always finding new ways to surprise Neil.

“Really?” Neil asked when he finally managed to get his voice back.

“Yes, really,” Andrew said. “I love you, and I’m already planning on spending the rest of my life with you. And we already have cats together, so there’s no turning back now.”

Neil laughed and Andrew smiled, a short comfortable silence falling over them until Neil broke it.  
“So is that a yes?” Neil asked.

“I don’t remember you asking any questions”, Andrew replied and they both laughed again.  
“But it’s always a yes with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Leave a comment if you liked it and you know you can leave a comment even if you didn't like it.
> 
> Once more congrats to all my german peeps and a huge thanks to Emma for beta reading this and correcting my billion typos lmao.


End file.
